Dorfman: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Pete Rose belong in Hall

MLB commissioner Bud Selig speaks at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown last summerJim McIsaac/Getty Images

If it were up to me, I’d rent a bus and drive every gifted major league baseball player to Cooperstown for immediate installation in the Hall of Fame. A truck would follow with the medals.

Cooperstown is where just about every good player, if he has that special talent, prays to reside. The thought is so nourished by the player that it virtually defines his life.

If the honor were awarded purely on a man’s ability to play this playground favorite, there would be no problem awarding him immortality. But there is another issue involved, and it’s a formidable one. Should character count?

What did the player do in his career and life that he ought to be ashamed of? It’s a question that defines human existence. With all respect, it’s also the same question that could be asked of all of us.

I put the same thought to some sports folks and discovered something I should have expected. They love their ballplayers and are loathe to condemn them. They’d stick them all in the Hall and pay for the bus.

Steroids are the tired problem, and we are not even sure of their effectiveness. Lots of players tried them and gave them up, but still blew their chance for the Hall. More than one physician has told me you don’t really know what effect they have on athletes or for how long.

Anyway, the question of the Hall of Fame doesn’t start and end with steroids. There are other breaches of conduct. Should character count, even if it doesn’t involve drugs?

In that connection, Barry Bonds, the game’s greatest hitter, and Roger Clemens, one of the game’s greatest pitchers, who has returned to the mound, are both up for inductions, but the feeling is that neither will make it on first try, although they should. Steroids may be strongly suspected here, but there is actually no hard proof that either used them.

Bonds was convicted of misleading a jury and Clemens was acquitted of lying to Congress.

It’s easy to dislike them, but not to delay their place in the Hall.
There is little doubt Mark McGwire is a goner, although his bat once gave the country unprecedented thrills. Sammy Sosa was there with him, and together they were propelled by stimulants. Both belong in the Hall, but I wouldn’t keep the bus waiting.

There are many others, some valid candidates, who gave the public uncommon thrills but who did it with injections. There was a time when most everyone had something in his locker to speed his career along, and to punish them all would have come close to shutting down the game.

And then, of course, there is Pete Rose, who is the centerpiece of the character question.

Don’t think there are no Rose supporters. Pete Rose’s place in posterity has been denied him since he got his record 4,256th base hit in his retirement year of 1986. He had been a switch-hitting player from 1967 to 1986 and the Cincinnati manager from 1984 to 1989, before going to jail for filing false income tax returns. Pete even gambled on his own team. He says he never bet on his Reds to lose, but he gets no RBI for that.

There is no greater argument than Pete Rose, the game’s greatest hitter, on the question of character. He has tried several times to earn forgiveness, and a lot of fans would give him that, but he doesn’t seem to try anymore, and the only reason his name pops up in print is the question of how much character counts. Keeping him out denies the Hall the game’s most productive hitter.

In civil jurisprudence, penalties, even long ones, eventually come to an end and the felon is released. Pete Rose, of course, was sprung from jail after his conviction and in a sense was purged of his sins. He’s been a good boy since, if you feel generous about him.

Maybe the Hall of Fame should forgive the disqualified stars who did give so much to the game. Maybe, say, a 20-year ban from Cooperstown, but ultimately a place there. Just a thought, and probably not the last one to come this way.

Be prepared India

India is reportedly trying to develop a professional football league. If it has in mind a complete program, it should include a testing facility for brain injuries, a program for dealing with concussions and assorted injuries, insulating apparel for playing this game and a stretcher at the ready. Then order the footballs.

Quotation

Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.